Doffing mechanism for making deep pile fabrics



Oct. 25, 1966 D. FRlsHMAN 3,280,594

DOFFING MECHANISM FOR MAKING DEEP PILE FABRICS S IIIIIIIIIIIIIIHI IlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllllll INVENTOR Da niel Frlshman ATTORNEYS Oct. 25, 1966 D. FRlsHMAN 3,280,594

DOFFING MECHANISM FOR MAKING DEEP PILE FABRICS Original Filed Sept. l2, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

INVENTOR Daniel Frishman ibieiumwwgwy g ATTORNEYS Oct. 25, 1966 D. FRISHMAN 3,280,594

DOFFING MECHANISM FOR MAKING DEEP PILE FABRICS Original Filed Sept. 12, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENToR Daniel Frishman ATTORNEYS United States Patent fitice 3,280,594 Patented Oct. 25, 1966 3,280,594 DOFFING MECHANISM FOR MAKING DEEP PILE FABRICS Daniel Frishman, Andover, Mass., assignor to Reid- Meredith, Inc., Lawrence, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Original application Sept. 12, 1963, Ser. No. 308,598, now Patent No. 3,139,093, dated June 30, 1964. Divided and this application June 10, 1965, Ser. No. 462,827 6 Claims. (Cl. 66-9) The present invention relates to a Dofling Mechanism and Method for Making Deep Pile Fabrics and is a divisional of my application Serial No. 308,598, filed September 12, 1963, now U.S. Letters Patent 3,139,093, which relates to the manufacturing of a fabric having filaments over five inches in length looped into the knit structure of rthe base filaments during the knitting thereof, which fabric may be used as in my basic application for making artificial hairpieces or as shown and described in my division application Serial No. 356,997, filed February 27, 1964, now U.S. Letters Patent 3,199,516 in which the fabric may be employed for wearing apparel uses as Well as rugs or the like.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a process employing the apparatus of the present invention for use with a pile fabric circular knitting machine or similar type circular knitting machine which employs a single set of needles land which machine knits a plain knit stitch of either one or two ends of yarn. By Way of example, a satisfactory wig is made from a fabric which is obtained by first preparing a sliver of nine inch or longer ends of preferably 24-40 denier Dynel monofilaments. The most preferred embodiment =uses 40 denier Dynel filaments because wigs made with filaments of this denier retain their set when curled better than those of finer deniers.

The sliver is then fed to the carding mechanism -of a pile fabric circular knitting machine or similar type machine, which card mechanism has been modified to accommodate the greater than five inch length Dynel ends of the sliver and to present the Dynel ends to the needles of the knitting machine whereby they are doffed from the card roll onto the needles in advance of the introduction of the base yarn ends to the knitting needles. The filament ends are fed to the needles in such a manner that at the time of knitting they are not wound or twisted with one another. In order to carry out these steps of the method, mechanical modification was required to the construction of the carding mechanism of the pile fabric circular knitting machine.

The thus formed long hairy faced knit fabric may also be formed into articles other than wigs or hairpieces, eg. bearskin rugs, fur coats or any other article that may be constructed from the furry pelt `of an animal. The fabric of the present invention may be worked similarly to the furry pelt or hide of an animal and may be formed by sewing into articles of wearing apparel with the long furry side exposed. The dense interlocking of the nine inch Dynel filaments into the fabric structure to create the furry face gives the thick fluffy appearance of ya natural pelt.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a pile fabric circular knitting machine modified in accordance with the presen-t invention for knitting fabrics for hairpieces and wearing apparel.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view with parts broken away and parts shown in section of the carding mechanism of the pile fabric circular knitting machine in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 3 is a diagrammatic view of FIGURE 2 showing the path of filament transfer.

FIGURE 4 is a schematic top plan view of a pile fabric circular knitting machine employed in accordance -with the present invention having four cards thereon.

Referring more particularly to the drawings and for the moment to FIGURE l, preparatory to commencing knitting of furry fabric of the type illustrated in the two above-mentioned patents, a sliver 30 is prepared by initially taking a tow consisting of 24-40 denier Dynel and dyeing the same to the desired shade of color of the artificial hair fabric to be constructed. The dyed tow is passed for example through a Pacific Converter in which the dyed tow is cut to a length of at least ve inches. In the application of this fabric to wigs, shown in U,S. Patent No. 3,139,093, nine inch ends or longer have been employed.

These cut ends are then joined to form the sliver 30; the sliver then being wound around a reel or drum 31 or coiled in a container. The sliver, as best seen in FIGURE 1, is then introduced to the card mechanism 34 through its feed rolls 32 and 33, best seen in FIGURE 3. The filaments of the sliver 30 are introduced to the card cylinder 36 through a smooth lickerin 35, The filaments traveling on the card cylinder are removed therefrom by a belt`doffer 37 having pin-like projections 38 thereon for engaging and removing from the card cylinder 36 the filaments of the sliver for transferring these filaments onto the knitting needles 39, FIGURE 2, of a pile fabric circular knitting machine or similar type circular knitting machine 4t?.

The machinery modification in order to knit a fabric having the long filaments, that are in excess of five inches in length, entails modifications to the conventional pile fabric circular knitting machine or similar type machine in the following respect.

As best seen in FIGURES 2 a-nd 3, the conventional d'olfer cylinder has been replaced by an endless belt threaded over two cylinders, -a-t least one of which is power driven. This elongated dofling member in -t-he form of an endless belt provides a mIo-re efficient doffing means than does a conventional dof-fer cylinder when working with filaments in excess of five inches in length.

The conventional workers and strippers have been removed from the carding mechanism and a smooth lickerin 35 has been substituted for the conventional roulgh lickerin. Positive feed rolls have been provided for supplying the sliver to the lickerin, said positive feed rolls, o-ne of which is rubber or rubber like as shown by the cross-hatchi-ng, also act to hold back the lon-g ends of the sliver, so -it will ifeed evenly -and without excess -onto the card drum.

In the preferred embodiment utilizing a belt doffer 37, the knitting point on the machine may be land preferably is adjacent the doffer. However, in certain modifications of the machine, .the knit-ting point on the machine may be advan-ced circumferentially in the direction of rotation of the needle cylinder from the doffer.

In the preferred embodiment and in these various modifications, it is essential that means be provided for laying the filaments out so that their ends will nun straight away and not lock on the dofiing element by interengagement with other filaments on the dofiing element at the moment the filaments are knit into the fabric. In lnhe present em. hodiment this is attained by providing an endless belt having at fle-ast one elongated dofiing surface capable of receiving and laying fout the filaments so that they may be readily pulled free from one another from the doing surface. From the doffing zone to the knit-ting point .air may be the f-abric Iare shown at 40a.

at right angles to the cylinder axis and are located from opposite the dofng zone ahead of the knitting point to a i position following the knitting point in rthe direction of provided to assure the proper relationship between the dofl'ed filaments and the knitting needles of the knitting cylinder.

The general path cf .air supplied in nisual las shown in U.S. Patent 2,953,002.

Suction ducts to remove filaments not well caught into These ducts lie planar-wise needle travel.`

For certain types -of fabric, such as wigs :and certain long hairy faced fabrics, it becomes desirable to further modify the pile fabric circular knitting machine by removing alternate needles, particularly if =the machine contained ten needles per circumferential inch. This'reduction in number of needles results in :a much less dense,

`more porous fabric.

The linear speed of the dolfer belt 37 has been increased over the conventional doifer cylinder so that ,the additional lengths orf the filaments being doffed 'will be laid out in a straight away man-ner for ygreater ease of Withdrawal. The doing means of this invention follows an arcuate path where it takes the filaments from the card Iand a straight line path Where it carries the filaments beyond the needle circle, during the period when said filaments are being incorporated into the knit web. After the filaments have been caught by the needles land knit finto the fabric, the ends of said filaments Iare carried in a straight away path from the needle circle Where they are caught. The needle circle is moving in a direction substantially at right angles to the dofng mea-ns, hence the filaments have portions remaining on the dofting means, wlhile other portions are connected to the needles or fabric.

Although I have disclosed herein the best forms of the invention known to me at this time, I reserve the right t-o 'all such modifications and changes as may come within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. For use with a pile fabric circular knitting machine v having knitting needles land a card mechanism receiving long staple fibers fed in sliver form for transfer t-o the knitting needles, doffng means for dofling -long staple fibers from said card mechanism and for transferring the` fibers to the knitting needles for incorporation into la fabric while said machine knit-s same, said doffing means having a curved portion and a following straightaway portion, said curved portion having a first segment i-n pickup relationship to the card mechanism and a second segment in transfer relationship to the needles of the circular knitting machine, said straightaway portion maintaining the trailing ends of said long staple fibers trans-.

ferred onto the needles of the machine in s-tnaightawtay nontanigled relationship While the leading ends of the fibers are knit into the fabric by the needles of said machine.

2. A doing mechanism as claimed in claim 1 wherein said dofiing means is an endless belt havin-g pin-'like project-ions extending from its outer surface.

3. A doiiing mechanism as claimed in claim 2 wherein said doing means comprises .a support, rolls rotatably carried by said support and being spaced apart for supporting said endless belt; and drive means carried by said support and being Iadapted to be driven by the card Cil mechanism to drive said endless belt in doff relationship to the card mechanism.

4. For use with a pile fabric circular knitting machine having knitting needles, a card and dofiing mechanism comprising a card means adapted to be supplied with long staple bers fed thereto in sliver form, a duiven dofng means having -a curved and a stnaightaway portion, said curved portion having a pick-up segment and a transfer segment in advance of said straightaway portion, the pick-up segment `ofsaid dofing means being in fiber pickup relation .to said card means and the transfer segment being positioned to tnansfer fibers picked up from said card means to the needles of said circular knitting machine for vknitting Ithe leading ends of the transferred fibers into a fabric while carrying the trai-ling ends straightaway on the straightaway portion of the dofiing means in nontangled relationship.

5. A pile fabric circular knitting machine having knitting needles, a card mechanism with a card cylinder receiving long staple fibers fed in sliver form for transfer to the knitting needles, -and including .an endless d-ong means having straightaway and curved portions and transfer pins on the outer surface lof said means, means positioning said dofling means to remove fibers from the card cylinder and for transferring same to the knitting needles, land drive means connected to drive said dotiing means faster than the speed of said card cylinder so that the leading ends of fibers are transferred into engagement with the knitting needles While the trailing endsof said long staple fibers in contact with said dofiing means are maintained in a non-tangled relationship along -the straightaway portion of said doin'g means.

6. -In a knitting machine of the type described, the

combination `of hooked knitting instrument-aiities for drawing yarn into loops to form a fabric, fiber card-ing means and doiiing means for parallelizing and delivering fibers to the hooks -of Ithe knitting instrumentalities, said doffing means comprising an endless driven member having at least one arcuate portion and a following straightaway portion, said arcuate portion presenting a first segment thereof in liber dofiing relationship to the carding means and a second segment thereof in fiber transfer relationship to the knitting instnumentallities, said straightaw-ay portion maintaining the trailing ends of fibers doffed ont-o the knitting instrumentalities of the machine in straightaway non-tangled relationship while the leading ends of the fibers are knit into :the fabric by the knitting instrumentalities of said machine.

References Cited bythe Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,953,002 9/ 1960 Hill 6649 3,010,297 11/1961 Hill 66-9 3,021,698 2/ 1962 Hill 66-9 3,066,358 12/1962 Schiess 19--106 X 3,188,834 6/1965 Radtke 66-9 FOREIGN PATENTS 74,214 4/ 1894 Germany. 240,280 10/ 1925 Great Britain.

ROBERT R, MACKEY, Primary Examiner. 

1. FOR USE WITH A PILE FABRIC CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE HAVING KNITTING NEEDLES AND A CARD MECHANISM RECEIVING LONG STAPLE FIBERS FED IN SLIVER FORM FOR TRANSFER TO THE KNITTING NEEDLES, DOFFING MEANS FOR DOFFING LONG STAPLE FIBERS FROM SAID CARD MECHANISM AND FOR TRANSFERRING THE FIBERS TO THE KNITTING NEEDLES FOR INCORPORATION INTO A FABRIC WHILE SAID MACHINE KNITS SAME, SAID DOFFING MEANS HAVING A CURVED PORTION AND A FOLLOWING STRAIGHTAWAY PORTION, SAID CURVED PORTION HAVING A FIRST SEGMENT IN PICK- 